Bellator 'Summer Series' features two events instead of typical three

Instead of three events during its annual “Summer Series,” Bellator MMA this year will host just two.

Sources close to the promotion confirmed that plan to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) not long after its first event of the summer, Bellator 96, which took place this past Wednesday at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla.

Bellator 97 takes place July 31 at Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, N.M., near Albuquerque, but there will not be an August event. Instead, the promotion simply will roll into the start of its ninth season, which opens Sept. 7 with what will be Bellator 98.

Bellator started its “Summer Series” in 2011 with three events – one per month in June, July and August. The three events were perfect for the promotion’s tournament format in that the spacing allowed for an opening round in June, semifinals in July and a tournament final in August.

In 2011, Bellator hosted a featherweight tournament as part of the three events, and in 2012, a light heavyweight tournament winner was crowned.

But for 2013, Bellator announced it would try out four-man tournaments in the “Summer Series” instead of its typical eight in the regular spring and fall seasons, and planned to do tourneys in the heavyweight, light heavyweight and bantamweight divisions.

Bellator 96 this past week featured the semifinals in the heavyweight and light heavyweight tournaments. But with just two events in the “Summer Series” and not three, a proposed bantamweight tournament will not take place until later.

Bellator 98 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., to start Season 9 and will feature a middleweight title fight between champion Alexander Shlemenko and tournament winner Doug Marshall as well as the finale of this summer’s “Fight Master” series on Spike TV. That show will be on a Saturday night before moving to a new Friday night time slot on Spike TV starting Sept. 13 for the remainder of the season.

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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